1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to thermometry. In particular, various embodiments relate to a medical thermometer that includes a wireless capability to provide temperature readings to another device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of thermometers are known, including both contact and non-contact thermometers. Contact-type thermometers generally rely upon conduction between the patient and a sensor component, which may include a thermistor or the like, to cause heating of the sensor component that is then detected and converted to a corresponding temperature of the patient. Non-contact thermometers rely upon radiation read from a specific location in or on the patient, which is detected by a radiation-based sensor, such as a thermopile, and converted into a corresponding patient temperature. Various algorithms are known that use the output of the specific type of sensor employed, and, sometimes, the ambient temperature, to a generate a corresponding type of temperature of the patient, such as an oral temperature, tympanic temperature, core temperature or the like.
Regardless of the underlying detection and conversion technology that is used, in each case the thermometer requires a display to present the computed temperature to the user. This display adds extra expense to the thermometer and requires additional space in the thermometer housing.